In a very interesting scrap, Puerto Rico’s Jan Paul Rivera took on Miami’s Daniel Bailey into 10 round featherweight. Bailey looked good behind the jab early in the first round. Suddenly, a sweeping left hand from Rivera caught Bailey flush and dropped him against the ropes. Interestingly, Bailey tried to appeal to referee Luis Pabon that Rivera, “didn’t hit me!” Bailey seemed to do well in the second regaining his confidence and working behind the jab again.
Rivera kept pressing, but late in the fourth, he walked straight into a a four-punch counter combination that buckled him. Bailey failed to capitalize in the fifth, looking to display more style than substance while Rivera kept coming forward, throwing and landing more.
Rivera followed his corner’s advice in the sixth round, when they told him to, “Go out there and do something!” Do something he did, dropping Bailey hard late in the round. Inexplicably, Bailey had been defiantly leaving his hands by his sides and he paid the price dearly. Rising at the count of eight, Bailey soaked up more punishment, forcing referee Luis Pabon to jump in and save him from further punishment. The time was 2:58 of the sixth. Rivera improves to 13-0, 7 KOs. Bailey falls to 15-3, 8KOs
In the co-main event, Orlando’s own Corey “2 Smoove” Marksman took on Luis Martinez in a scheduled eight round match. Marksman showed a speed advantage over his southpaw foe right away in the first round. Martinez appeared reluctant to let his hands go as he was outworked. Marksman lived up to his surname as he fired accurate shots, stunning Martinez late in the second.
Marksman was feeling it in the third round, in between pot-shotting and teeing off on Martinez, he would mug and mock, talking to both Martinez and the crowd, dropping his hands, high stepping and basically doing whatever he wanted.
In the sixth round, Martinez soaked up an unbelievable amount of punishment, somehow staying on his feet. Finally in the seventh, after Martinez absorbed a vicious, pinpoint, four punch combination to the head, referee Christopher Young had seen enough and stepped in to save the still standing, but vastly outgunned Martinez. The time was :19 of round seven. Marksman goes to 12-0-1, 9 KOs. Martinez drops to 9-2, 4 KOs.
In a clash for the vacant WBA Continental Americas super welterweight title, Cuban Yoelvis Gomez battled Haitian Edwine Humaine over ten rounds of a phone booth warfare slugfest. Over the first five rounds, Gomez had things his way but did appear to tire in rounds six and seven.
Humaine landed some big shots to the head and body as Gomez became easier to hit. After a tongue lashing from legendary trainer Ismail Salas, Gomez came alive in the last three rounds, taking it to Humaine, who still tried to give it back to Gomez until the very end.
In a squeaker, Gomez pulled it out by scores of 95-95, 96-94 and 97-93. He moves to 9-1, 7 KOs. The hard-luck Humaine loses his second straight at 9-2, 7KOs.
Former US Olympian in the 2024 Paris games, super feather Jahmal Harvey overwhelmed his Peruvian foe, Marcelo del Aguila, so much so, that del Aguila decided to remain in his stool, signaling to referee Alicia Collins that he would not come out for the second round.
Harvey begins his career at 1-0, 1KO. For his part, the now 5-2, 1 KO del Aguila actually told DAZN interviewer Claudia Trejo that he remained on his stool because he was, “bored!” That’s a first!
